


Aftermath

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: F/M, Hurt Oliver, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Sacrifice, post episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24241015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Chloe and Oliver talk after he finally wakes up in the hospital after Zod's attack.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Kudos: 5





	Aftermath

Chloe sat up and wiped her face quickly when she felt him moving on the bed, getting up a second later, her hand still firmly around his, "Ollie?" She called quietly, reaching up and touching his face with her free hand.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly at the sound of his name, and the second after he heard that, he felt the pain. Like his chest was on fire. A pained groan escaped him and involuntarily his hand clenched around hers.

"Shh," she told him, squeezing his hand, "don't try to move."

"What--where am I?" He opened his eyes slowly, grimacing in pain.

"Metropolis General," she said quietly, brushing her hand over his cheek.

He turned his head toward her, her face blurry for a moment. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, then focused on her. "Hi," he murmured.

Chloe swallowed, her eyes getting teary again but she offered him a sad smile, "hi."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes again. "How long have I been here?"

"A few hours," she told him quietly, pulling her hand from his face after a moment, but keeping her other hand around his, "do you need anything? Do you want me to get Dr. Hamilton?"

"Depends." He swallowed hard. "Can he knock me unconscious again?"

She pursed her lips together and started to move away from the bed, "I'll see if I can get him to get you some more drugs."

"Wait." His grip on her hand tightened. 

Pausing, she turned to face him again, a worried look on her face, "what is it?"

"Just...call him from here," he whispered, not letting go of her.

With a nod, she squeezed his hand once more and moved closer, "you're right, I can do that."

Oliver relaxed a little, though he kept hold of her hand. He let his eyes drift shut for a moment, then suddenly jerked upwards, grimacing involuntarily. "Clark--did he stop Zod?"

"He's trying," she told him quietly, "Zod's destroyed the Castle, I assume Waller too."

"Shit," he whispered, forcing himself to take a deep breath. "How bad is it?"

"Bad," there was no point lying to him, he was going to know sooner or later, "looks like our favorite Kandorian is finally showing his true colors. You were just the beginning."

He shut his eyes again, but only for a moment before he braced his free hand against the mattress, forcing himself to sit up.

"No," she told him, placing a hand over his shoulder and pushing him back down gently, "you're not going anywhere, there is nothing for us to do right now, Clark went after Zod, but we will need you in shape if we have to start using those kryptonite weapons we've been replacing." 

"There may not be time to waste, Chloe," he told her, looking up at her with worry in his eyes. "The guy can do a hell of a lot of damage in a short amount of time."

"We can't take any more risks," she said firmly, holding his gaze.

"We may have to." His voice was quiet.

Chloe's jaw tightened and she held his gaze, her jaw tight, maybe she wasn't ready to let him in completely yet, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let him think he was allowed to get hurt again, "you're not going anywhere until Dr. Hamilton tells you you're allowed to. Zod could have killed you, Oliver and for whatever reason, we're lucky enough that he decided not to, you are _not_ taking any more chances with your life like this."

Oliver stared up at her, taken aback by her tone, by her vehemence. "Chloe..."

She raised her eyebrows and just stared at him, her jaw tight as she ignored the fact that her eyes were getting warm with tears, she had to control herself, but she wasn't apologizing for what she just said.

He was silent for a long moment, then he squeezed her hand gently.

Letting out her breath, she nodded and pulled her phone from her pocket with her free hand, texting Dr. Hamilton with one hand and focusing her gaze on her phone so she didn't have to look at him.

"Are you all right?" Oliver watched her for a moment, biting down hard on his tongue to try and suppress the pain in his features.

Her phone beeped as soon as Ollie finished his sentence and Chloe focused on it a second longer, "Dr. Hamilton is on his way."

"Chloe." His voice grew quiet. "Are _you_ all right?"

Chloe took a deep breath and slid her phone back inside her pocket then rubbed a hand over her face and finally looked over at Oliver, "the Watchtower has been destroyed."

He stared at her, stunned. "Zod attacked Watchtower?"

"Tess did," she told him. 

"Tess--what?" Oliver was now thoroughly confused. "How the hell did Tess even find out about Watchtower in the first place?"

"Apparently she made the connection when you got worried that 'Watchtower' had been captured by Checkmate," and that was as much as Chloe was willing to tell him about that particular subject, "she had collected samples of my DNA and my guess is that she followed me there, then let herself in, I went out to get coffee and she was there when I got back."

He stared at her, his chest tightening involuntarily. "And she destroyed it?"

"Checkmate located her by a chip they had implanted in her, they tried to hack into the Watchtower, so it went into lockdown mode when we were in there. The only way for us to get out was to destroy the cooling system, which caused the computers to overheat and all the information to be lost," she said tightly, looking down at a random spot on the sheets instead than at him, she couldn't stop her eyes from getting teary again.

In the past year, Watchtower was the only place she felt at home at, the one place she felt safe and like she was actually doing something _good_ , and now it was all gone. All her work, all her research, everything they knew on the Kandorians, everything that could help them _stop_ them. Gone. And she felt like everything she had become was gone with it.

Oliver watched the emotions flickering over her face despite her attempt to hide them. "Chloe." He squeezed her hand. "Look at me."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying her best to control herself before looking at him again.

"You're okay, right?" He gazed at her intently.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We got the device out of Tess, and now we don't have to worry about Checkmate anymore."

Oliver exhaled slowly. "Then that's what matters, Chloe. You're all right." His voice was quiet.

"Tess knows everything, Oliver. About us, about the team, everything."

He fell silent at that, looking down at their hands. "She's known about me for weeks now," he said quietly.

"She cares about you," Chloe pursed her lips together, "she doesn't have the same kind of loyalty toward the rest of us."

He looked up at her again. "I'll deal with Tess."

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, they would have to deal with that later, "how are you feeling?"

Oliver grimaced a little. "I'll live." He looked down.

Her face fell and she stepped closer again, reaching over to touch his cheek.

She would have to focus on what she was going to do about the Watchtower and about Zod soon, but right now, her hands were tied on those matters and she was going to focus on helping Oliver. If he was so worried that even _Tess_ connected the dots when she had been kidnapped and if Tess was right about him feeling good about having a purpose now that he was with her, the least she could do while she wasn't ready to really show him how she felt was to take care of him.

He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. "I'm sorry." His voice was very quiet. "That she figured it all out because of me."

"It's hardly your fault, Ollie, she was going to figure it out sooner or later," she brushed her thumb over his cheek slowly, "Tess is smart." Too smart for her own good.

Oliver rested his head back against the pillows. "I'll take care of it," he murmured.

Chloe hesitated for a second then leaned down, pressing her lips to his forehead, "we'll take care of it. But for now, you need to rest."

He exhaled slowly. "Are you staying?" he asked uncertainly.

"As long as you want me to," she told him quietly, pulling back enough to look at him.

He smiled faintly at that. "Guess you'll be here awhile."

"Good thing I'm wearing comfortable clothes, then," she reached behind her and pulled the chair closer to the bed then sat down, her hand still firmly wrapped around his, "rest, Dr. Hamilton will be here soon."

He nodded slightly, closing his eyes and holding onto her hand. "Chloe." His voice was soft.

She sat up, frowning worriedly, "yes?"

Oliver turned his head toward her and then opened his eyes to gaze at her. "You're gonna be okay," he said quietly.

Chloe held his gaze and smiled sadly, nodding a little and lifting their hands, pressing her lips to the back of his, "so are you."

He watched her for a moment. " _We'll_ be okay."


End file.
